In the show's premiere episode, "Gluttony," Kavinoky narrates dramatic re-creations from the real-life story of Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, who cheats on his wife and begins an affair with a subordinate, leading to murder.

"Like most gluttons, his willpower is nonexistent," Kavinoky says of Laurean in "Deadly Sins." "At the heart of the sexual indulgence, I think, is an unfulfilled need for approval, and for a guy with this kind of an emotional fault line, the prospect of being rejected by his true love -- the almighty Marine Corps -- could make him capable of just about anything."

Kavinoky is co-creator of "Deadly Sins," which offers a weekly dose of pulp nonfiction, featuring two re-enacted crime stories in each one-hour episode.

"To some extent it's because the impulses that lead to that extreme bad behavior lives to some degree in all of us," he said. "I think some of it may be gut check time."

A 1984 graduate of Ashland High School, Kavinoky has had his own run-ins with sinfulness.

"Some of my own personal sinning may have had its genesis in Oregon," he said, chuckling. "Certainly my freshman year of college at the University of Oregon was quite sinful."

That includes a struggle with addiction.

"The late 1990s was not a great time for me," he said, turning serious. "I was in and out of various (treatment) centers, but I've very much put all of that in the rearview mirror and demonstrated to other people that the whole mission of our law firm is empowering our clients to understand how the worst event in their life -- getting arrested -- can be the best thing to happen to them as a catalyst for unbelievable change."

Kavinoky, 45, was born in Santa Monica, Calif., but lived in Ashland twice, first in elementary school and later in his high school years. He attended UO for a year but then moved on.

"I had this lightning bolt moment sitting in a redwood hot tub trying to get the rain out of my beer. I started thinking, 'I'd have a lot more fun if it wasn't raining,'" Kavinoky said. He considered two colleges in warmer climates, ultimately settling on San Diego State University over the University of the Virgin Islands.

"San Diego did better on the Playboy list of party schools," he said.

He transferred to San Diego State but was later academically disqualified. Eventually he talked his way into a night law school program and managed to pass the California Bar exam on his first try. After law school, Kavinoky worked briefly at a firm before starting his own practice, which has since expanded to multiple offices throughout California, specializing in DUI criminal defense work. Kavinoky credits Mel Gibson's 2006 drunken driving arrest and anti-Semitic rant with getting him on TV.

"Entertainment Tonight" producers wanted a lawyer to appear on the show and talk about drunken driving cases. Another lawyer suggested Kavinoky. On his way to the "ET" studio he stopped at home to pick up several different suits he could wear, thinking producers might want to record interviews with him in multiple wardrobes so they'd have sound bites to use on different days of the week that didn't all appear to be from a single interview.

"No one had ever thought about their needs before," Kavinoky said. "They were blown away by that and as a result started having me back more and more."

Producers of other TV shows saw him on "ET" and he subsequently appeared on additional programs ("Today," "Dr. Phil," "Nancy Grace," "Fox & Friends," "Inside Edition") before becoming a correspondent for "The Insider."

Kavinoky's initial plan was to write a book based on the seven deadly sins but a literary agent convinced him the concept would work better as a TV show. So he took the idea to Dick Clark Productions, which sold the show to ID. Although the initial order is for seven episodes covering the seven deadly sins, Kavinoky said there are plenty of stories of criminal behavior to extend the show to subsequent seasons.

He enjoys that "Deadly Sins" offers opportunities to weigh in on heinous crimes, like the convicted murderer in the first episode.

"If there's any real justice, he's getting what's coming to him courtesy of the general population at Pasquotank Correctional Institution," Kavinoky says in the episode.

"Maybe that comment gives some insight into my own sick sense of humor and how the karmic wheels tend to grind," Kavinoky said. "There's definitely a wider array of commentary available in this context or even doing legal analyst work than you're allowed as a lawyer."